As part of a
season-long celebration of 60 years of Modified champions,
NASCAR will honor legends Ernie Gahan and Red Byron at Stafford
Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, Conn., on April 27 prior to
the Tech-Net Spring Sizzler.
NASCAR plans
to honor each of its 31 all-time Modified champions throughout
the season. The celebration began with the recognition of
Frankie Schneider, Donny Lia and Richie Evans at the Icebreaker
at Thompson International Speedway on April 6.
Gahan will be
present for the pre-race festivities at Stafford and will be
honored for the many accomplishments during his career,
including the 1966 NASCAR Modified title. Byron, the first
NASCAR champion in 1948, will be honored posthumously.
Like many
drivers in his day, Gahan traversed the east coast and ran up to
four races a week during his three-decade career. After getting
his start in auto racing at Dover (N.H.) Speedway in 1948, Gahan
compiled more than 300 feature wins on dirt and asphalt, and his
career peaked in 1966 when he captured the NASCAR Modified
championship. He was a 1990 inductee into the New York State
Stock Car Association Hall of Fame and was a member of the
inaugural induction class of the New England Auto Racers Hall of
Fame in 1998.
The central
figure in arguably the three most-important firsts in NASCAR
history, Byron won the first NASCAR-sanctioned race on the
beaches of Daytona in 1948, captured the first NASCAR title in a
Modified that same year, and was the first NASCAR stock car
champion in 1949. Byron has been a part of NASCAR lore
since he navigated the beach and road course in his Ford
Modified to win the first NASCAR race on Feb. 15, 1948. A member
of the National Motorsports Hall of Fame, Byron will be inducted
into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame on April 24. He
was also named one of “NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers” in
1998. Byron passed away in 1960 at the age of 45.
Following his
season-opening win at Thompson on April 6, Ed Flemke Jr. and the
rest of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers will make their
second stop of the season at Stafford. Practice and time trials
will take place on Saturday, April 26 while the 200-lap main
event on Sunday, April 27 is set to go green at approximately
2:30 p.m. For ticket information, please visit Stafford’s
official Web Site (staffordmotorspeedway.com).
Source: Jason
Cunningham/NASCAR WMT PR
Posted:
April 14, 2008
